AFL Player #11: Jade Gresham - An astute pickup

[Beerfish]

Contract: Unrestricted Free Agent 2026
My Boy Draft 2024: Pick 28, mcgrath_truther

 

[Yoda_]

Symptematic of our small forwards. Lack physical pressure on the ball carrier.

 

[ghostdog]

I noticed him go hard at maybe two contests? A bit absent yesterday, which wasn't ideal given Menzie is also struggling.

 

[ant555]

Did not get the rub of the green either. Ball bouncing the wrong way a few times and a few fumbles. Almost like he was trying too hard to make something happen. Got burnt for speed a few times.

 

[Yoda_]

sneakily good game again tonight.

7 inside 50's and 6 clearances on top of the 1 goal and 26 possessions

 

[mcgrath_truther]

sneakily good game again tonight.

7 inside 50's and 6 clearances on top of the 1 goal and 26 possessions

he played well, but his inside 50s were basically to space, not his strongest suit tonight

 

[Gumby2Hurley]

Proper pre 2021 snap of the achilles game from him. love him.

 

[MarkJohnson#1]

Loving the Gresh Prince so far, his intensity and forward craft has added another dimension to our forward line.

 

[katana]

really do no understand the point of this guy.

the cynic in me says davey gets dropped next week so we can have guelfi and gresham as 'pressure' forwards... yuck

 

[Yoda_]

really do no understand the point of this guy.

the cynic in me says davey gets dropped next week so we can have guelfi and gresham as 'pressure' forwards... yuck

when were going well he looks good, when were ok or worse he no doubt looks poor.

 

[FlyingV]

He’s had a great year, not our fault we don’t have the bobby hills etc around him. Gun

 

[katana]

He’s had a great year, not our fault we don’t have the bobby hills etc around him. Gun

yeah i guess its not his fault he doesnt have a good small forward to make him not look bad.

 

[FlyingV]

yeah i guess its not his fault he doesnt have a good small forward to make him not look bad.

Do you think he’s been bad this year?

 

[mcgrath_truther]

he’s ended up playing a bit further up the ground than usual over the past fortnight but he did look a bit off- i guess playing at st kilda he’s not used to marquee games

 

[Donakebab]

Half his disposal were scored involvements. He wasn't picked up to be our best player, he adds heaps as a mid ranged player.

 

[Happyskeret]

Interesting fact second game he has not got a goal for us the other was against the Saints. In the two games we lost he kicked 3 goals in each game! Has 9 for the season.

 

[DERO]

He is probably our best small forward TBH

 

[Call Me Cake]

His pressure/link up has been pretty good this year, with some of his goals being pivotal in our previous wins to change momentum (Hawks, Bulldogs, Adelaide).

Also doesn't do him any favours when his 3 goal hauls on two occasions came against the teams we lost to in Sydney and Port. One could also argue if we'd have been in touch with Sydney without his haul, or smashed even more by Port. But because they were losses, with one being a really bad one, it doesn't get remembered as much.

Going in tall and not having a chance to get more than 2 i50 tackles for a whole game (where it is usually our strong suit) probably didn't help. But if there was any game we wanted him to snag one or two, it was this match. However to say you see no point is a bit of stretch.

 

[BrunoV]

really do no understand the point of this guy.

the cynic in me says davey gets dropped next week so we can have guelfi and gresham as 'pressure' forwards... yuck

Good player with the ball. Liability without it.

At this point in time there is no alternative. Not that I think that matters. Because he's been signed to play 3 or 4 years so that's what he'll do.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

Always busy around the ball.

 

[naraku]

I think Gresh was the only one to stick tackles in our F50- 2.

He has been a solid pickup, but definitely needs others help him maintain the forward pressure.

 

[joey_jo_jo]

Had the most forward half possessions on the ground (14), 8 of which led to a score.
We are in dire need of a fast pressure forward but Gresh was never recruited for that, he is performing the role asked of him pretty well.

 

[ant555]

when were going well he looks good, when were ok or worse he no doubt looks poor.

They basically sacrificed his game to be the Stringer / Caldwell decoy a bit and also just pushed him up to the contest so he was not really playing a small forward role as such. Did not have a great game for sure but he was basically playing the Snelling role which is not always productive.
If you look at his numbers they where not that bad.
16 disposals
2 marks
2 tackles
2 clearances
8 score involvements
1 tackle inside 50 (we had 2 for the game)
81% disposal efficiency.
0 clangers.
3 turnovers.
All of this not playing the traditional small forward role.
I think last week showed that if you allow him to play a more outside role he can play well and did we really play worse this week compared to last week ?
He is obviously not a fast pressure small forward which we really need but he has also not played that role. There was a lot of decoy stuff with Stringer and Caldwell and Gresham moving up and back out of half forward and the midfield.